The Society For West African Internal Audit Practitioners (SWAIAP) has urged its members to help minimise fraud and irregularities in private and the public sector to the barest minimum in the West African sub-region.
A communiqué issued at the end of its first international conference, with the theme, ‘Internal Auditor: The Unappreciated Catalyst’, held virtually, the association also urged internal auditors to check errors, wastes, inefficiencies and defects in the organisations they operate.
The communiqué signed by SWAIAP president, Patrick Onwura Nzechukwu, stated that the members should assist management to enthrone good corporate governance and mitigate risks.
It said: “SWAIAP should engage in more activities that would create awareness among stakeholders of the relevance of effective internal auditing across West African countries.
“It should help to train and properly equip members and internal auditors in general with tools and skills necessary for effective internal audit practice in the West African sub-region.”
While stressing the need for internal auditors to assist management to maintain adequate internal control and reporting systems, the participants urged SWAIAP to train and properly equip members and internal auditors in general with tools and skills necessary for effective internal audit practice in West African sub-region.
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The participants also resolved that SWAIAP should engage tertiary institutions through the relevant regulation agencies to incorporate internal auditing in their syllabuses as a course of study as practiced in developed economies.
The association, they resolved, should also lo liaise with relevant agencies and institutions in the propagation of effective and strong corporate governance, risk management system and adequate internal control and compliance and virile reporting systems.
The stakeholders also urged the body to encourage the publishing of internal audit textbooks both study and practice books for tertiary institutions and professional training institutions.
They also agreed that the association should encourage professional institutions in West Africa to incorporate internal auditing in their syllabuses as it is done in other developed economies.
The communiqué also stated that the body should embark on massive enrolment of internal auditors in practice with adequate developmental programmes to bridge the acute knowledge gap as a result poor foundational development.
Other decisions included to embark on massive enrolment of intending or student internal auditors to create strong foundational knowledge of the profession and embark on research and development (R & D) that would bring about inventions and innovations that would be acceptable as global best practices.
It also resolved to encourage the enactment of law backing the practice, regulation and administration of internal auditing in West African countries.
